Gwandanaland Comics #245

This 2017 Gwandanaland Comics collection reprints material from Ace Comics' Baffling Mysteries, and the September 1954 cover by Jim McLaughlin sets the tone perfectly — a commanding, jewel-adorned woman flanked by two muscular, pink-skinned figures declares to a crowd of stunned onlookers, "Fools! You thought you were to have eternal life — but you are now slaves to the Flame Queen!" The tagline promises stories that are "Weird! Fantastic! Astounding!" and McLaughlin's vivid, lurid composition — flames licking the background, a staircase receding into shadow — delivers exactly that atmosphere. If you have a taste for mid-century mystery and supernatural menace, this volume is a genuinely satisfying dive into pre-Comics Code pulp imagination.